


Reclaiming the Chamber

by dragonyfox



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Lots of scars, OotP, also harry embraces parseltongue, changing the chamber from a place where muggleborns go to die to where muggleborns go to learn, probably wont be angsty bc i cant write it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-04
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-18 23:21:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4724054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonyfox/pseuds/dragonyfox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where Dumbledore’s Army uses the Chamber of Secrets instead of the Room of Requirement.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_“I was thinking,” said Hermione, frowning at Fred, “more of a name that didn’t tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings.”_

_“The Defense Association?” said Cho. “The D.A. for short, so nobody knows what we’re talking about?”_

_“Yeah, the D.A.’s good,” said Ginny. “Only let’s make it stand for Dumbledore’s Army because that’s the Ministry’s worst fear, isn’t it?”_

- **Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix**

 

"And," she added immediately after, "This place is nice, but anyone can find it. Didn't you say Dumbledore found it on accident?"

Harry frowned. "Yes."

"There's another place on school grounds that is far more secure than this," Ginny explained, "We've both been there, and it's never been found except by you and…"

The realization dawned on Harry, and he ignored the questioning looks from the other people gathered. "Ginny, you can't possibly want to do this there. I'm the only one who can even open it!"

Ginny grinned. It was a vicious expression, not unlike Fred and George's when they're planning a particularly nasty prank.

"Harry," Ron said, "she's right. It's brilliant. Even if the place is disgusting."

"Alright," Harry agreed reluctantly. "But- Ginny, are you going to be okay going back down there?"

She shrugged. "Only one way to find out. Can this room take us all down there?"

Someone in the back of the group yelped suddenly, and the D.A. turned as one to see what had happened.

Behind them, a wide tunnel had appeared. Steps led down in a spiral, and above the entrance way to the tunnel was a large wooden sign that read SALAZAR SLYTHERIN'S CHAMBER.

"I think it can," Hermione replied faintly.

"Wait," Anthony Goldstein said, "are you taking us to the Chamber of Secrets?"

Harry shrugged. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"But isn't there… you know, a monster down there?"

"Yes," Harry answered, "but I killed it. I've got the scar to prove it."

He rolled up his sleeve, and let Goldstein see his darkly discolored veins that radiated from a puckered scar from when the basilisk's fang had pierced his skin.

It had faded slightly, but even phoenix tears only negated the poison, not the damage that had already been done. He'd looked it up after the incident, and he learned that basilisk venom is a neurotoxin that destroys tissue as it goes.

"It's dead," Harry repeated as he rolled his sleeve back down, "and Ginny's right. The Chamber is probably the safest place to do this. We might have to tidy the place up- it was a right mess the last time I was down there- and we'll need to figure out an easy way out, but this is a very good idea."

"You're welcome," Ginny sang.

"Yes, thank you."

Nobody argued after that.

The trip down was quiet, with the only sounds being their footsteps. Every few feet, a torch lit the way, so the stairwell was actually rather bright, and the stairs seemed brand new. Harry supposed that either Hogwarts had made this staircase just for them, or it was so rarely used that there wasn't any wear and tear on the stone.

As it turned out, the stairwell did not lead directly into the Chamber, but into Myrtle's bathroom.

Hermione made a disgusted sound. "The last time I was here was not pleasant."

"Wasn’t pleasant for us, either," Ron replied. "Harry, go on and open it."

Harry glanced back at the rest of the D.A. nervously.

The Ravenclaws seemed more interested to hear parseltongue than wary, and Colin and Ginny looked determined, but Justin Finch-Fletchy was pale and clutching at his housemate's sweater.

"Sorry," Harry said to him, and turned to face the sink. " _Open_."

As it had years before, the sink sank down into the floor, revealing a slanted pipe.

"I am not going down a disgusting hole," Pavarti declared.

"I second that," Padma said, scrunching her nose. "If this is the main entrance, shouldn't there be a more graceful way down that sliding down a pipe?"

Harry shrugged. "Maybe there's another parseltongue password or something?"

"Or," Hermione interrupted, "we could just transfigure stairs from the stone."

"Can I try the parseltongue first?" Harry asked.

She rolled her eyes, but waved him on.

" _Make stairs,_ " he commanded.

The pipe rumbled ominously, and for a second, Harry thought he'd broken it. But then, steps slowly emerged from the stone, one by one, forming a spiral staircase.

Hermione made an impressed noise, and Harry grinned.

Ginny stepped forward to the edge of the stairs.

"I'm going first," she said. Her voice wavered a bit, but she looked no less determined than before.

Harry let her. "I'll be right behind you."

"No, Harry," Ron said, "you have to close up behind us. Nobody uses this bathroom anymore, but it still isn't safe to leave the door wide open."

Reluctantly, Harry agreed.

"I'll be right behind you, Gin," Ron assured his sister.

She nodded, and began the descent, with her brother just two steps behind her.

Hermione decided to stay with Harry instead of following, and waved at the rest of the D.A. to go on ahead.

The rest of the Gryffindors went first in groups: Fred, George, and Lee Jordan; then Alicia, Katie, and Angelina; Dean, Neville, and Lavender; with Dennis and Colin at the rear.

Pavarti went down with her sister, and Padma's housemates went down with them, except for Luna, who seemed to want to wait with Harry and Hermione, and neither protested.

Justin needed a pep talk to go down there, and refused to let go of Ernie Macmillan's sweater or Hannah Abbot's hand. The entirety of the Hufflepuffs went down as a group.

"Now that the cete of badgers are on their way, shall we join them?" Luna asked.

Harry didn't know what a cete was, but nodded, and the three of them stepped down to stand on the topmost stair.

" _Close_ ," he commanded the sink with more confidence than he'd had when he opened it.

The sink rose from the floor, and sealed the newly made stairwell off.

They quickly went down the stairs, though they went carefully, since there wasn't a rail to prevent them from falling down a flight.

At the bottom, they heard crunching noises from beneath their feet.

"Just as gross as it was before," Ron told them, deliberately ignoring the retching from one of the Ravenclaws. "We should clean this place up before we get started, I reckon."

Harry nodded. "Let's all vanish these bones as we go."

"What about the basilisk corpse?" Ginny asked.

"Oh." Harry had forgotten about that. "I dunno. Wouldn't it be rotten by now?"

"There's a preservation charm active down here," Terry Boot said, "you can tell, because there's no scent from decay. We would definitely smell dead snake if there wasn't one, regardless of where the corpse actually is."

"He's right," Hermione said, "and I think we should harvest the parts. I know there's lots of potions that require basilisk parts, and we could sell them. Or use them."

"Don't do anything yet," Harry ordered. "We don't know what parts are poisonous-"

"Toxic," Hermione corrected. "Venom only comes from the fangs and should be in sacs in the head."

"- and the poison will kill you in minutes. We don't have a phoenix on hand," Harry finished firmly. "Don't touch the basilisk."

The entire D.A. readily agreed.

From there, the fifth years went about vanishing the bones on the floor. Hermione took a moment to teach the Creevey brothers before she and they joined them.

 

By the time they finished, it was fifteen minutes to nine.

Harry pulled Ron and Hermione from the rest of the group and asked, "When should I say these lessons end?"

"Prefects do rounds until eleven," Hermione offered, "and only Professors Snape and McGonagall do rounds with the prefects. The other teachers take turns each night."

"But Filch always does," Ron added. "I say ten would give everyone a decent amount of time to get back to their dorms before the other teachers start patrolling."

Harry nodded.

"We're done," someone called, "what next?"

"This isn't the main room," Harry replied, and strode to the other side of the hallway to the statue.

" _Open_ ," he hissed, and it slid back.

The next room was more like a long entrance hall, and was much cleaner than the hallway leading from the stairwell to it was. There was also the basilisk corpse at the far end, slumped against the statue that it had emerged from three years before.

"What’s the point of having several layers of defenses to get through if they're all the same?" a Ravenclaw complained.

"I can change them later if we can figure out how they work." Harry then raised his voice, "alright, you lot! What do you want to learn first?"

"We should start with things that are on the O.W.L.," Michael Corner said.

Harry nodded at him. "Alright, but what else?"

"Patronus charm!" Hannah Abbott shouted.

A murmur of agreement swept through the crowd, and Harry nodded again. "Let’s leave that for the last lesson before Christmas, though. It's a difficult charm."

Hermione had a list of things that were known to be on the DADA O.W.L., and so Harry glanced over that before deciding that Expelliarmus and Protego should be the first things on the agenda.

Together, Harry and Hermione transfigured part of the stone floor to block the basilisk body so that nobody would accidentally fly into it, while Ron and the twins set about covering the floor in cushioning charms.

Once done, Harry explained, "The incantation for the disarming charm is Expelliarmus. You'll want the color to be a bright red- like Gryffindor robes- and your opponent's wand should fly right to you. Don't worry if you can't catch it, not everyone's a Seeker."

The D.A. laughed, and suddenly Harry didn't feel quite so overwhelmed.

"Alright, pair up! I'll be walking around with pointers, so please don't hit me."

 


	2. Chapter 2

It had only been two days since the D.A. had met up, and Harry was already itching to go back down into the Chamber.

After all of their classes were over- he’d managed to not mouth off to Umbridge for a few days, and was detention-free for the first time in weeks- he pulled Ron and Hermione aside.

“I want to go explore the Chamber,” he said without preamble.

Hermione tried to protest. “We have a paper for Defense to write!”

“Screw that,” Ron scoffed, “it’ll take you ten minutes, and we’ll just paraphrase it once you’re done anyway. Let’s go explore!”

Hermione sighed. “Yes, alright. Let’s explore the Chamber. Maybe Slytherin kept records somewhere? Oh! Maybe there’s a library hidden down there!”

Harry grinned.

The route from the Tower to Myrtle’s bathroom was a familiar one, and they chattered in low tones the entire way there.

“I did some research on collecting parts of the basilisk earlier,” Hermione told them, “the only thing that we’ll need to be careful with is the head, since the venom sacs are there, as I said, and the eyes. Even in death, you can be paralyzed by basilisk eyes, though they won’t kill you.”

“The eyes won’t be a problem, Fawkes clawed those out,” Harry assured her. “Are we going to need lots of vials and bottles?”

She answered dismissively, “yes, but we can get those this weekend, since it’s a Hogsmeade weekend.”

Harry nodded idly.

Then a thought occurred to him: “Do you think we- the boys I mean- will get in trouble for going into a girl’s bathroom all the time?”

Ron snorted, which quickly turned into a short bout of raucous laughter.

“What?” Harry demanded.

“Nobody goes near Myrtle’s bathroom anymore, Harry! Not since Mrs. Norris got petrified and- and-“ he swallowed, and his explanation grew somber, “and since the Heir- or, well, Ginny- wrote on the wall. Nobody’s been able to get the message down. Filch thinks it was done up with a permanent sticking charm.”

Hermione winced. “I would imagine those really _are_ permanent, then?”

“Oh yeah,” Ron agreed, cheering up a little again, “my mum once used one on Fred and George’s trousers to get them to stay at the table, and we had to cut them out of their trousers and carve the wood out from under them  after dinner.”

Harry and Hermione both laughed at the image.

“But anyway, yeah. Nobody goes down that corridor at all, really,” Ron finished. “People think it’s creepy.”

Hermione nodded. “Yes, but just to be safe, I imagine you could convince Myrtle to act as a lookout, Harry. She likes you well enough, doesn’t she?”

Harry groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

“Don’t be rude!” Hermione scolded. “She could help us, and I think you should take advantage of any help we can get! Even if you don’t like them!”

“Alright! Alright, sorry. I’ll ask her.”

They then passed the massage on the wall: _THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE._ And in smaller hand, underneath: _Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever._

“Oh,” Harry said, stopping to stare at it, “that is pretty disturbing.”

Ron grunted an agreement and tugged him towards Myrtle’s bathroom, looking pointedly anywhere but at the words written in now-coagulated, brown blood on the wall.

“Hey, Myrtle, can we talk to you?” Ron called.

She drifted out from her closed stall. “What do you want? To tease me more?”

“No,” Harry assured her, “do you remember the other night, when we and a bunch of others came down from a staircase, and went into the Chamber?”

“Yes! I wanted to say hello, but then I saw that girl who threw that book through my head, and I thought better of it. It’s not very comfortable, you know, having a book thrown through your head!”

“I can imagine,” Harry said hurriedly, “but I was wondering if you might do me a huge favor.”

“Oh?” she slid through the air, towards him. “Like what?”

“Can you keep a watch out for anyone coming into this bathroom while I or any of my friends are down in the Chamber?”

She frowned. “You just want to use me-“

“No!” Harry interrupted. “No, not at all! I just would really appreciate the help, since you can just come down and warn us if someone’s up here. But if you don’t want to…”

“Oh!” Myrtle exclaimed, “You really aren’t making fun of me?”

Harry shook his head. “Not at all.”

“Well…” she twirled her hair around a finger. “I suppose I could do that.”

“Thank you, Myrtle,” Harry said, trying to sound as sincere as possible.

Then he hissed at the sinks to open the Chamber, and he, Ron, and Hermione shuffled onto the topmost stairs. Once he was certain all three of them were out of the way of the sink, he hissed at it again to close.

About halfway down the stairs, Ron started laughing.

“What?” Harry asked him, “What are you laughing at?”

“You, mate!” he said, and waved his arm, “you manipulating Myrtle like that! It was just so- so Slytherin!”

“It worked, though!” Harry replied defensively. “Or would you rather not have a lookout?”

“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing,” Ron assured him, “I’m just saying it was really weird to watch. It was like- I dunno, it was just odd.”

Harry squinted at him.

“Honest, mate. I don’t mind, it was just weird.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Harry, we both know that you were almost sorted into Slytherin. Of course you’re going to have Slytherin traits.”

Harry’s eyes widened and he stared at her.

“Wait, what?” Ron asked, looking between them. “Harry, is that true?”

Harry hesitated.

“Not that it’s a bad thing!” Ron added hurriedly once he realized Harry hadn’t answered, “It wouldn’t have even been a bad thing if you had gotten sorted there! Ten to one says you’d have turned them all into good people-“

Harry laughed, his tension broken. “Can you imagine Malfoy acting like anything other than an obnoxious twat?”

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and their laughter petered out.

“Where to start?” Ron asked, looking a little lost.

Harry pointed at the statue past the basilisk. “There. It requires a password, so I bet there’s- I dunno, something back there.”

“We’re going to have to move the basilisk,” Hermione pointed out. “Their skin is impervious to most magic, just like dragons.”

Harry slumped. “So we can’t use magic to move it?”

“I doubt it. We can try.”

They did. Neither _Levicorpus_ nor _Wingardium Leviosa_ had any effect. Harry suggested that they try to roll the corpse out of the way a little, but Hermione vetoed it since that might damage the internal organs, and lower their value when sold.

“Let’s leave it for now,” Ron said reluctantly. “And try to get in there after we’ve taken its corpse apart.”

“The tunnels, then?” Hermione asked, pointing.

Harry shrugged. “Sure.”

There were four tunnels, two on either side of the hall. They chose the tunnel to the left of the basilisk, and started their trek.

After a few minutes, Hermione asked, “Harry, do you have the map?”

Harry patted down his robes. “I think I do. At least, I’m pretty sure I left it in these robes and not my other set.”

Hermione made a disgusted noise.

He finally found the map in an inner pocket, and took it out.

“I solemnly swear I am up to no good,” he told it, and it failed to unfold properly.

Ron leaned over. “What’s wrong with it?”

Writing scrawled across the front:

_Mister Moony would like to ask where the holder of the Marauder’s Map is currently located._

_Mister Padfoot would like to know if the holder has found a new secret tunnel._

_Mister Prongs would like to inform the holder that if they have found a new secret tunnel, that Mister Prongs can tell them how to add it to the Map._

_Mister Wormtail would like to know how the holder found a new tunnel, if that is what they have done._

Ron, Harry, and Hermione glanced between each other.

“We found the Chamber of Secrets, and we were trying to find out what part of the castle we’re in,” Harry told the map.

_Mister Moony is skeptical that anyone actually found the Chamber of Secrets._

_Mister Wormtail would like to add that most consider the Chamber a Myth._

_Mister Prongs would like to ask the holder to prove it, and add it to the map._

_Mister Padfoot seconds that, and would like to give the holder the list of spells they can use to add to the map._

Hermione produced a small notebook and a pencil from her robes and scrawled down the spells as they appeared.

“I think I’ve heard of most of these spells, but I’ll need to look the _Animare Atramento_ one. I’ve never heard of it…”

 _Mister Moony would like to inform the young miss that_ Animare Atramento _will animate the ink, and allow for footsteps and any moving parts of the castle to be recorded._

Hermione slipped the map from Harry’s fingers. “Thank you!”

Harry stared at the map in slowly growing reverence. His father had helped create the map, and now Harry was about to add to it, with his friends. His version of the Marauders. He wasn’t sure if he felt like he was encroaching on his father’s legacy, or continuing it. After a few minute’s deliberation, he decided to think of it as continuing the legacy.

While he had been deep in thought, Hermione had cast the spells given to her by the map, and the area of the tunnel they could see had appeared on the map, next to the Transfiguration classroom.

“Wicked,” Ron breathed.

“I want to do it next,” Harry said, taking the map back from Hermione.

_Mister Moony would like to express how impressed he is._

_Mister Wormtail would like to admit that he has been proven wrong._

_Mister Prongs wants to see the Chamber itself, not the tunnels._

_Mister Padfoot wants to know what happened to the Monster that allegedly lived in the Chamber._

“I killed it,” Harry said. “I got bit by it too, but the headmaster’s phoenix was there, and saved me.”

_Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs would all like to express their awe at anyone conducting such a feat!_

Harry smiled. “Thanks.”

The trio backtracked to the Chamber, and mapped the main entrance, and then went back through the tunnel, recasting the spells when they stopped inking out the tunnel.

As they went, they found three separate exits. One was between two suits of armor, one just outside of the Defense Classroom, and one that opened a floor below the entrance to Gryffindor tower. The latter of the three also was at the very end of the tunnel. All three opened when commanded to in parseltongue.

Harry checked his watch when they stepped out of the tunnel and onto the stairs below the tower.

“Curfew is in a few minutes,” Harry said with a sour expression.

“We should start patrolling, then,” Hermione replied apologetically. “The Hufflepuff prefects take over in an hour, though, so we’ll be back then. I’ll help you both with your homework when Ron and I return. Oh, and we’ll tell Myrtle we found alternative exits, so she can quit looking out for us.”

Harry waved goodbye at them, and ascended the stairs alone, with the deactivated map clutched to his chest. He couldn’t wait for the next day, when he could add more of the tunnels to the map.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry visited the chamber every night after having discovered the secret tunnels. He wasn’t sure why it was so important to him, but he felt that he had to discover every secret in and around the Chamber. Sometimes Hermione and Ron came with him. Sometimes only Ron did, if Hermione had homework. Sometimes only Hermione came, if Ron had rounds to do. Mostly, Harry went alone, though.

Then one night, Ginny asked him to take her to it again. Alone. He agreed readily, and used the passage just below Gryffindor Tower.

 _“Open,”_ he hissed, and it opened.

Ginny’s face twisted, and she said something under her breath.

“What’d you say?” Harry asked her.

“I’m trying to mimic your parseltongue,” she admitted.

“Oh!” Harry was surprised. “Why?”

She twisted her hair over her shoulder. “I want to be able to visit the Chamber on my own. It’s not fair that I got to do it before, and have no memory of it outside of nightmares. I’m sick of it. I just want- I don’t know, to get over it, I guess.”

“Voldemort isn’t really something you can ‘get over’, Ginny,” Harry told her gently.

She scowled. “I know. But I can try, can’t I?”

Harry conceded.

“Teach me how to say open in parseltongue,” she demanded.

He did his best, and she managed to get the hang of it- even if she slurred it a little- by the time they made it to the Main Hall of the Chamber. She demanded he teach her how to say ‘close’, as well, and the two of them spent the rest of the night like that. Ginny would ask for a word, and Harry would repeat it until she had it well enough.

 

Hermione had insisted that she be the one to purchase all of the vials and flasks needed for dissecting the basilisk, but had finally accepted a pouch of money from Harry after quite a long argument.

“I want it all packed up as soon as possible,” Harry had argued, “I want to get into the room past the statue before the next D.A. meeting. It’ll be easier to buy everything we need in bulk now, rather than a bit at a time.”

So Hermione relented, though she did demand that they not follow her in, in case Umbridge or one of her lapdogs saw. That way Harry wouldn’t get another detention consisting of cutting his hand open over and over so soon. If anyone saw, it would be her that was punished.

So, while he wasn’t happy with the idea of someone being punished in his place, Harry relented very reluctantly, since he had had far too many of those detentions than he liked, and knew he would get more soon enough.

Ron dragged Harry into Honeydukes when she split off from them in the direction of the apothecary to distract him from any lingering worrying.

“I dare you to buy blood pops,” Ron said with a grin.

Harry grinned, and grabbed a few. “Alright, then I dare you to buy cockroach clusters.”

Ron laughed. “Fred and George made me eat them once, those really aren’t that bad.”

Harry made a face. “Alright then, gross. How about… Ice Mice?”

Ron grabbed a few of those, and then the two of them gathered up their usual fare, purchased it all, and found a bench to sit on outside to try the blood pops and ice mice.

“You first,” Ron said.

“Let’s go at the same time,” Harry countered.

Ron shrugged, and the two of them unwrapped their candies simultaneously.

“This isn’t bad,” Harry said around the sucker, “tastes like copper, a little, but not blood. Too sweet. This is sugar and chocolate!”

“These are spearmint flavor,” Ron chattered. Then he paused and asked, “How do you know what blood tastes like?”

Harry shrugged. “Dudley knocked me down a good few times. Bit my tongue a few times too. It happens, not a big deal.”

Ron frowned at him, but before he could comment further, Hermione emerged from the apothecary and approached them, carrying a shrunken crate under her arm.

“We’re all set,” she declared. “Is there anything else we need to do here, or should we head back up to the castle?”

“Let’s head back,” Harry said, standing.

Hermione scrunched her nose. “Harry, is that a blood pop?”

“Yeah, I found out I liked them just today.”

 

Harry wasted no time in dragging Ron and Hermione into the Chamber. In fact, he didn’t even pause to put away his and Ron’s sweets.

“Goodness, Harry,” Hermione exclaimed once they were safely in the closest tunnel, “you’re even more curious about what’s behind that statue than I am!”

He shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed. “There might be something back there that will help us. Or, even better, there might be something that will help me defend against whatever scheme Voldemort cooks up to try to murder me this year.”

Hermione put her hand on his shoulder. “Even if there isn’t, I’ll be here to help you. Always.”

“Me too, mate,” Ron added. “I still feel like shit about not believing you last year. You’re stuck with me forever now.”

Harry flushed. “Um. Thanks guys.”

Hermione smiled.

Ron coughed, breaking the moment. “So what do you hope is back there? Behind that creepy statue? I hope it’s got some cool like, I dunno, artefacts or something.”

“Well, I hope there’s a library!”

Harry laughed. “Of course you do, ‘Mione.”

“Imagine what we could learn from a library dated from the Founder’s era!” she exclaimed, “Do you even realize how much magic has been forgotten? Imagine what we could learn!”

They entered the main hall of the Chamber just as Hermione finished her sentence.

“Well,” Harry said, pulling his dragonhide gloves from his pocket and pulling them on, “get cutting, and we’ll find out what’s in there soon enough.”

Ron and Hermione joined him in putting on their gloves, Hermione unshrank the crate from the apothecary, and the three of them got to work.

To cut through the skin, all three of them had to cast a cutting spell together. That only made a cut about twelve inches long, so they had to repeat the action several times before the belly of the basilisk was open enough for them to start putting away the organ in the various sized glass bottles and vials Hermione had bought just hours previously.

It was rather grueling and disgusting work, and they had to take frequent breaks.

“We should get some of the D.A. to help,” Ron complained.

Harry disagreed. “Maybe Ginny and Neville and Luna, but you saw how squeamish most of them already were just seeing the bones in the hallway from the girl’s bathroom.”

“Ugh, true.”

“We’re almost done,” Hermione assured them. “Since most of these organs sell better whole, that cuts down quite a lot of time. I’m also keeping some of the blood and venom for experimentation.”

“I want to keep a fang,” Harry said. “A clean one, without venom. But I want one. And I think we should keep the skeleton here as a reminder to the D.A.”

“A reminder of what?” Ron asked.

Harry smiled faintly. “That even kids can do incredible things.”

 

In the end, it took until nine in the evening to completely disassemble the corpse and move the skeleton to a corner of the hall. Hermione had even magically articulated it by fusing the bones together with a long lasting sticking charm.

Which meant that they finally had access to the statue.

“Let’s get dinner,” Ron said, “I’m starved, and we skipped lunch.”

“I just want to take a quick look,” Harry pleaded.

Hermione nodded frantically.

Ron sighed, and waved them on. “I know when I’m outnumbered. Just make sure it’s actually a quick look, and not let it turn into a long look.”

“You can always go up to dinner without us, Ron,” Harry pointed out.

Ron scoffed. “Open the bloody statue, Harry.”

Harry grinned, and hissed at the statue, _“Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four.”_

The statue’s jaw sank down, below the floor, and the trio peered into the darkness beyond, brimming with curiosity.

Slowly, Harry stepped into the darkness, his best friends close behind him.


	4. Chapter 4

“It’s an empty room,” Ron said. “Can we go to dinner now?”

“No.” Hermione strode into the room.

Ron gaped at her. “No, we can’t go to dinner?”

“No, it’s not empty,” Hermione replied, rolling her eyes. “There’s doors.”

There were: four of them, to be exact.

“Let’s check out all the rooms, and then we can go to dinner,” Hermione assured him.

Harry ignored their banter, and walked past Hermione to throw open the door closest to the statue. Behind it was a normal sized room, with several large cauldrons lined up against the far wall, a few tables, and another wall filled with ingredient bottles.

“This is amazing!” Hermione breathed.

“Next room,” Harry said, tugging her along, “we’ve got three rooms and we don’t want to starve Ron.”

Reluctantly, Hermione allowed him to direct her to the next room.

“A kitchen!” Ron exclaimed.

“We’ll leave you over here, then,” Hermione teased.

He gave the kitchen a sad look, but followed after Hermione and Harry.

The doorknob on the next door didn’t turn. Harry frowned, and jiggled it, hoping it was just stuck from years of disuse.

Hermione pointed her wand at the door. “ _Alohomora.”_

Harry turned it again.

“It’s got to be warded,” Ron said finally.

Harry gave a last petulant kick and a muttered curse to the door, and the trio moved on to the next, and last, door.

Hermione opened it.

“Oh merlin,” Ron moaned, “a library! Now we’re never going to dinner!”

She turned and smacked his chest. “Don’t be rude, Ron! I’ll just grab a few for now, and come down between classes later!”

“Quickly, Hermione,” Harry urged playfully, “before Ron’s stomach eats itself!”

She huffed, “I hope none of these are cursed.” Then she darted into the shelves, taking a book here and a book there.

When she returned, she held only five books- a small miracle in Harry’s opinion- and led the way up to the Great Hall for dinner.

 

Somehow, word had gotten out to the rest of the D.A., in less than a day, that the basilisk had been cleared. Harry knew he didn’t tell anyone, and Ron and Hermione insisted they hadn’t said anything. That left only one person that Harry knew was capable of getting down there to have found out and spread the word.

So when he, Hermione, and Ron entered Myrtle’s bathroom, which was much more crowded than it ever was, he didn’t open the sink immediately.

“Ginny, why don’t you do the honors,” He offered.

She glanced around nervously.

“No, c’mon, if I can do it and they think I’m not evil scum of the earth, you can fake it. Trust me, I know exactly how everyone found out about the basilisk.”

So Ginny slunk forward and hissed at the sink.

The D.A. rippled with surprised gasps and yelps, but quieted down almost immediately.

“You’re still off by a letter,” Harry advised her as the D.A. shuffled down the staircase, “it’s _open_ not _opan.”_

“I still can’t tell the difference,” Ginny replied with a grin. “And anyway, it works, doesn’t it?”

He shrugged. He had to give her that.

She led the way down, while he waited for everyone to get on the stairs.

Myrtle zoomed in through the wall just as the last person had started down.

“That awful woman in all pink is coming! Filch told her there was a ruckus going on in here, and she’s coming to investigate!” she cried.

Harry’s heart seemed to freeze in his chest, but he recovered quickly, “Myrtle! Quick, flood one of the toilets and start crying very loudly! When she comes in, scream, and go down your toilet! You can hang out with us, okay?”

She nodded seriously, and immediately started wailing.

Harry closed the sink, but stayed at the top of the stairs to listen in.

“What is going on!? Ghost, I demand that you cease that noise immediately! It’s after curfew, and you’re making a disturbance!”

“Why are you being so mean!? What did I ever do to you! First someone calls me ‘the crybaby ghost’ today, and now you’re here harassing me!” Myrtle cried, and then started sobbing.

Harry shoved his fist in his mouth to stop from laughing.

“Well, cry quieter! You’re too loud!”

Myrtle wailed again, and Harry heard a splash, which meant she had gone down her toilet.

“Good riddance,” Umbridge said, “honestly, someone should hire an exorcist!”

 Harry’s eyes widened. He’d have to warn Myrtle.

He waited for her footsteps to leave before he ran down the steps.

At the bottom, he startled a pair of Ravenclaws and a Hufflepuff, but ignored them in favor of searching for Myrtle.

He couldn’t find her, and grabbed Hermione’s sleeve. “If you see Myrtle, tell her that Umbridge is considering hiring an exorcist.”

Hermione gasped. “Alright, I will!”

That done, Harry calmed down a little, and trotted to the front of the crowd.

“Alright, people!” he shouted, “As you’ve heard, we’ve cleaned up the basilisk corpse, and got into the rooms behind the statue.”

“Rooms?” someone called out.

“That’s right, rooms!” he confirmed. “There’s a potions lab, a kitchen, a library, and a locked room we haven’t been able to get into.”

Then he turned, and led the way to the statue, which he hadn’t bothered to close.

“We- and by that I mean Hermione- want to go through the library first,” laughter coursed through the crowd, “to make sure none of the books are cursed.”

Anthony Goldstein raised his hand and said, “Most of us Ravenclaw know a few spells to detect curses, since the restricted section is full of cursed books. I know a few that will nullify a curse for twelve hours, so long as it’s not horrifically dark.”

Harry pointed at him. “You’ve just signed yourself up to help Hermione check the library. Any other volunteers?”

Most of Ravenclaw, Susan Bones, Katie, and Alicia raised their hands.

“Alright, you lot go on. Hermione will lead you. I need a few volunteers to check out the potions lab and kitchen, too.”

The rest of the Hufflepuffs raised their hands, along with both Creevey boys, Cho, and her friend.

Harry waved them on. “Ron will show you those rooms. The rest of you, you can get some early practice with what we were working on last time. Remember, I’ll be wandering about, so don’t hit me!”

 

Ron’s group had declared the kitchen and potion’s lab in full function just thirty minutes after he’d sent them off, and joined Harry’s group in practicing _Expelliarmus._

Hermione’s group had cleared out the library relatively quickly, and had miraculously found only one cursed book in the entire hour they’d spent checking over every book. Harry had set them to pair up with already existing duos, to practice _Protego_ , since they had all gotten _Expelliarmus_ down properly during the last D.A. meeting.

Unfortunately for Hermione, she couldn’t read the one cursed book even after Anthony had removed the curse, which was just a simple screaming charm to stop people from opening it.

“It’s not even in a language I recognize!” she complained, shoving it into his hands. “Look! Do you recognize it?”

Harry opened the cover of the book. In a small script in the corner, it read:

_To whomever can read this, keep the secrets of this book._

He blinked, and flipped the page.

_The Full and Complete Grimoire of Known Parseltongue Magicks._

_Paracelsus_

“Hermione,” Harry said, looking up at her, “even if you could read this book, it’d do you no good.”

She stared at him blankly.

“It’s parseltongue magic,” he explained. “Even Ginny can only mimic parseltongue, and she can’t even say two words completely correctly.”

“Oh!” She exclaimed, and then crossed her arms sullenly. “I suppose it’s best that you keep that, then. Since you’re the only one who can use it.”

“Sorry,” he said, and squashed the urge to offer to read it aloud to her.

He tucked the book into his pocket to read later, and started circling the D.A. to offer tips and corrections, though it seemed that most had gotten the hang of both spells he’d taught them.

 

Just before he’d declared that the D.A. meeting was over for the night, Harry had gone to Ron and Hermione and tried to teach them how to say open and close well enough in parseltongue. Hermione had gotten it quicker, and had been the one to lead the Gryffindors after he’d ended the meeting. Harry, meanwhile, helped the Hufflepuffs get to the kitchens, since that was closest to their common room, while Ginny helped the Ravenclaws get to the base of their tower.

After he was sure the Hufflepuffs were as safe as they were going to be, he pulled the Parseltongue Grimoire from his pocket.

Harry wasn’t able to read and walk as naturally as Hermione, but he had spent enough time in libraries as a child to escape Dudley’s roughhousing that he was fairly confident he wouldn’t trip or get lost on his way to the Gryffindor tower, and cracked open the book again.

_The first thing one must understand about parseltongue magic is that it does not require a wand. One must simply focus and command magic as if it were a serpent…_


	5. Chapter 5

“Harry, have you heard from Snuffles recently?” Hermione asked, seemingly out of the blue.

He put down the Grimoire, which he had taken to bringing everywhere with him. “No. why?”

“Well, Professor McGonagall assigned that extra credit paper on animagi, so I was hoping to ask him what books he used when he and your- and his friends were researching it.”

Something clicked into place in Harry's mind. A thought had been digging at him since he had added the Chamber to the Marauders Map, and he finally realized what that thought was.

“Let’s become animagi,” Harry said, instead of answering her.

Her jaw dropped. “Harry, that’s not what I was saying at all! I just want to look into it for a paper!”

He shrugged. “Yeah, I know. I’m the one bringing it up. We already added to the map, so we're one step away from being real Marauders. So why not go all the way and become animagi? Continue the tradition, yeah?”

Ron stood up. “Mate, that’s brilliant! Do you know how jealous Fred and George will be?”

Hermione threw her hands up. “Alright, fine! Let’s become animagi! Can you please just mail your- Snuffles about what books to look at?”

Harry grinned, and immediately scrawled out a letter.

 

The next morning, Hedwig gave him a short scrap of paper and a package wrapped in cloth at breakfast, stole a few slices of bacon, and darted off again.

“What’s it say?” Ron asked eagerly.

Harry frowned at the scrap. “It just says ‘use the mirror’. What do you suppose that means?”

“It means,” Hermione said, holding a small pocket mirror still partially wrapped by the cloth, “use the mirror.”

The boys scarfed down what was left of their breakfasts, and the three of them left to find a good, quiet, and secure place to use the mirror: the Chamber. Harry ushered Ron and Hermione into the secret entrance between two suits of armor, and they made the short trek down.

They sat down in front of the articulated basilisk skeleton on main hall floor, Harry in the middle, holding the mirror, with Ron on one side of him and Hermione on the other.

“So how does this thing work?” Harry asked.

“Well, I’ve heard stories about these,” Ron admitted. “This one kids’ book that mum used to read to us before bed had the main characters having these to keep in easy contact. They just said their names to activate them.”

Harry shrugged. “Sirius.”

The mirror fogged up for a moment.

“Is it broken?” Hermione asked anxiously.

“Just a sec!” a faint voice called from the mirror.

Harry nearly dropped the mirror at the shock of hearing his godfather’s voice.

The fog cleared, and the trio could see Sirius as though he was Harry’s reflection. He had cleaned up a bit; his hair was shorter, he’d shaved his face, and he seemed to be wearing clothes that were nicer, though not better fitting, than his prison garb.

“Hello, pup!” Sirius said, grinning widely.

“Padfoot!” Harry grinned just as wide. “Where did you get this? It’s amazing!”

Sirius preened at the compliment. “Me and James made them during the first wizarding war, to check up on each other discretely. These were especially useful after he and Lily took you into hiding, since owls were being restricted by all kinds of things. Death eaters had taken to shooting them out of the sky on sight.”

“That’s terrible!” Hermione exclaimed.

Harry nodded, thinking about Hedwig, and how upset he’d be if someone killed her.

“I know, I know. Anyway, you asked me about how me and the Marauders became animagi?" he wiggled his eyebrows. "Thinking of continuing the tradition, eh?"

“Yes,” Harry answered.

Hermione have Harry a sour look. “Actually, I brought the subject up because Professor McGonagall assigned an extra credit assignment, and Harry just said out of nowhere that we should."

Sirius shrugged. “Either way, you kids want to become animagi. So, first thing you’ll do is read Transforming the Self. It’s in the transfiguration section, not restricted. It’s a pretty short read, but it’ll tell you pretty much everything you need to know other than the process for the animagus transformation itself.”

“I’ve read that!” Hermione exclaimed.

Sirius grinned again. “Ah, good. Explain it to the boys. The next thing you’ll have to do is keep a mandrake leaf in your mouth for a whole month.”

All three of them gave him skeptical looks.

“I’m not kidding! Trust me, I thought the same when James found that out. Keep it in your mouth for a whole month, being careful not to swallow it. You can use a light sticking charm to keep it against your cheek, that’s what I did.”

Sirius paused to wait for Hermione to finish scribbling down his words.

“After the month’s up, you have to meditate for about an hour a day. Don’t try to think about what form you’ll have, because you won’t get anything done like that. Eventually, it’ll click into place, and you’ll be able to transform. It hurts a bit the first time, but after that you’ll be golden.”

“How long did it take you?” Ron asked.

Sirius tapped his chin. “Well, research aside, I think it took me about six months. But we didn’t research the whole thing ahead of time, so it really took us the better part of two years.”

Harry frowned. “Six months? I didn’t realize it would take that long.”

Sirius laughed. “Don’t worry, pup. Your dad got it in four, minus research, and Peter took a year. I figure with your lovely Miss Granger there, it shouldn’t take you even as long as I did.”

 

Harry spent nearly all of his free time until the week before Christmas either pouring over the Parseltongue Grimoire or working towards his animagi transformation. Ron had taken to joking about him turning into Hermione, but Harry ignored it.

The book was fascinating. As far as he could tell, none of what was in it was considered dark magic by any definition. It was just a different kind of magic. The spells themselves weren’t all offensive or defensive, either. At least half of the book focused on healing spells.

However, what Harry found most interesting was the self-updating family trees in the back of the book. Those covered several families that had been known to birth parseltongues from the Founder’s era, and went down to the modern families that birthed parseltongues. There were far more living parseltongues than Harry had imagined! For every extinct line, there were two more that had originated from another line. The Patil family was even on the list, though none on their current family tree was marked as one.

Harry was been greatly relieved to see that the Potter line descended from Paracelsus. He came by his parseltongue ability naturally.

"Mate, put the damn light out and go to sleep," Dean grumbled from his bed.

Sheepishly, Harry whispered, “ _Nox_ ,” and set the Grimoire on his bedside table. He placed glasses on top of the book.

Before he fell asleep, he meditated. He knew he was supposed to wait until after he was done with the mandrake leaf, but nothing he had read had said meditating with the leaf in his mouth still would do any harm.

Harry fell asleep with a clear mind, and didn’t have the mysterious corridor dream for the first time in weeks.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this ones a bit longer than the others, because i feel guilty about forgetting about it. i'll do my damnedest to be more prompt in the future. (i admit, i ended up starting my first big build in minecraft. its more than a little consuming)

The Tuesday before Christmas break, which started on Saturday, Harry and Hermione were studying in the library. Harry’s lifetime ban from Quidditich imposed on him by Umbridge and Alicia’s subsequent anger over losing her seeker had prevented him from attending practice with Ron.

A girl dropped into the seat across from them, without warning or permission.

Out of habit, Harry glanced at her throat to see what colors her tie was, and found she wasn’t wearing one at all.

“We want in,” she said without preamble.

Hermione recoiled. “I’m sorry?”

“Who’s ‘we’,” Harry asked, “And what do you want in on?”

The girl answered the second question first, “Whatever it is that you’re doing that pisses off Umbridge and her cronies so much.”

Then she pulled something from her pocket and laid it on the table: her tie. It was green, with delicate silver stripes: Slytherin.

“Not all of us follow the pureblood supremacy rhetoric,” she explained softly, “hell, not all of us are even pureblood. My name’s Cindy Morris, and I’m a mudblood. I’ve got a first year mudblood, Devon White, that I have to keep an eye on and keep fucking Malfoy and his goons away from, and Emily Davidson is too damn quiet to stand up for herself, but she looks out for both me and little Devon. We want in, and there’s a few halfbloods who do, too.”

Harry looked her in the eye. “I want to meet them.”

“Wait, Harry, you can’t just take her at her word!” Hermione protested.

“The hell I can’t, Hermione!” Harry replied, exasperated, “just because she’s a Slytherin doesn’t make her evil. Remember that conversation we had about sorting?”

Hermione quieted sullenly.

Cindy grinned in relief. “Well, it’s nice to know you’re not discounting my honesty just because I’m a snake. Yeah, I’ll pass the word to interested- and trustworthy, don’t worry- parties. They’ll meet you up here at some point today.”

Harry extended his hand, and Cindy shook it.

“One last thing,” Harry said, and looked back over at Hermione. “She needs to sign the sheet.”

“The sheet?” Cindy asked.

“It’s just to make sure you understand the consequences of letting the secret slip. Anyone wanting to join has to sign it, even us,” Harry explained, gesturing to him and Hermione.

He handed Cindy the long parchment, and she signed after just a small moment of hesitation.

“What’s it do if I do snitch?” she asked as she stood.

“You’ll have ‘sneak’ written across your face in boils,” Hermione said with a pleasant tone.

“Harsh,” Cindy commented, “I like it, Granger. I’ll sent the others up soon. Thanks for believing me, Potter.”

Hermione reeled back, giving the Slytherin a rather surprised look.

“You’re welcome, Morris,” Harry replied. “Meet us on Friday night in Myrtle’s bathroom.”

 

Over the course of the rest of the afternoon, seven other Slytherins approached their table, signed the paper, and were told where to meet the rest of the D.A. at.

Harry also managed to gather information about each of them.

Cindy Morris was apparently the leader of the muggleborn and halfblood faction inside of Slytherin, and yet was only in her third year at Hogwarts.

There were two first years interested, Devon White, a muggleborn, and Zeus Burke, a halfblood. They came together, and kept looking over each other’s shoulders. Harry got the feeling that they were expecting an attack, and made a mental note to make it known that they were to be considered under his protection.

A third year and a second year approached next. Anna and Sandra Baker were halfbloods, and sisters, and spoke in a manner eerily reminiscent of Fred and George. They, too, were warily watching over each other’s shoulders, and Harry added them next to White and Burke on his ‘to-protect’ list.

The last three to meet Harry and Hermione included two of the most surprising ones.

“Potter,” Blaise Zabini greeted, taking the seat directly in front of him.

“Granger,” Daphne Greengrass added, taking the seat directly in front of her.

A third, taller girl hovered behind Daphne, twisting her hands together anxiously.

“This is Emily Davidson,” Blaise introduced. “Morris told you about her, I believe?”

“Not much, but yes,” Harry agreed. “I didn’t expect to see you two here. Aren’t you purebloods?”

Blaise shrugged while Daphne scowled.

“My family will murder me if they know I’m throwing my lot in with ‘blood traitors and mudbloods’,” Daphne admitted, “but I think the whole idea of purebloods being better than everyone is a load of dung. Look at Granger! She’s smarter than half of Ravenclaw, and she’s a mud- muggleborn.”

“Mine’s neutral,” Blaise added, “my mother would rather I not take a stance, but isn’t upset that I am. Greengrass and Davidson stick with me because Malfoy won’t dare attack me.”

Harry nodded slowly. “You understand the consequences if you betray us?”

“Yes,” Daphne agreed, “and I think the punishment is perfectly gruesome. Was that your idea, Granger?”

Hermione nodded reluctantly.

“I admire it. Where do I sign?”

Harry pushed the sheet to them, and the three signed.

“Did Morris tell you where to meet us?” he asked as he took the sheet back and rolled it up.

“No,” Blaise admitted, “we asked, but she insisted it would be a safety hazard to know if we didn’t sign. Entirely understandable, of course.”

Harry nodded, and handed the sheet to Hermione. “Meet us in Myrtle’s bathroom.”

Daphne scrunched up her nose. “Why on earth do you lot meet there?”

Harry grinned. “You’ll see.”

Daphne scowled, shrugged, and stood to leave. Blaise and Emily followed immediately after, with Blaise charging ahead to take the lead, Daphne on his right, and Emily on his left.

 

On Friday, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were walking down to Myrtle’s bathroom, Hermione finally burst and asked the questions Harry knew she’d been gnawing on for days.

“Why did you let Blaise and Daphne join? I can understand the others, but why them? And why do you call them by their last names? What are you going to do if they betray us?”

“I let them join because it’s not fair to let other purebloods who genuinely want in to join and not them just because they’re Slytherins. I’ve been calling them by their last names because I believe that’s how they call each other and it feels more polite. If they betray us, I’ll treat them the same way as if a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw were to betray us.”

Then he stopped, and looked her dead in the eye. “Hermione, you realized how close to being in Slytherin I was. If we’re going to get out of this alive, I’m going to need to use whatever innate skills that nearly made Slytherin.”

Ron grumbled. “Much as I hate to admit it, ‘Mione, he’s right. You and me can keep a careful eye on them, if it makes you feel better. I know it’ll make _me_ feel better.”

“It’s ‘you and I’, Ron,” Hermione huffed.

Harry grinned, and continued leading the way.

When they arrived at Myrtle’s bathroom, the Slytherins were lumped together, and there was at least a foot between them and anyone else.

“Why are Snakes being allowed in?” Alicia demanded upon seeing Harry.

“Because they wanted to join, and signed the sheet. If they betray us, and I wouldn’t have let them join if I thought they would, we’ll know exactly who did,” Harry answered serenely.

Nobody argued.

“Ginny, if you would?” Harry said.

He admitted to himself that he wasn’t sure he fully trusted the Slytherins yet, but he also wanted to make an impression on them. These were his friends, and if they put his friends in danger, they were going to regret it. But he also wanted them to know that if they became his friends, they would receive the same benefits the rest of the D.A. did.

Ginny opened the Chamber, and as one, the Slytherins either jumped or gasped in surprise.

Harry glanced back at them with a smile.

“Impressive, Potter,” Blaise said, clearly trying to cover his surprise with a stoic expression.

“It gets better,” he assured them.

Ginny rolled her eyes and waved the group in, “alright, you lot, everyone in.”

Harry led the way, hoping to show the Slytherins that he trusted them.

 

“Alright, as you’ve no doubt noticed,” Harry began, “we have some newcomers. I fully expect you to treat them like you treat the rest of the D.A.”

There was a quiet, reluctant murmur of agreement.

“And as most of you know, today is the last meeting before Christmas break, and I promised you lot that I’d try to teach you the Patronus Charm. The incantation is ‘ _expecto patronum’_ and you’ll want to draw circles in the air with your wand while you think of the happiest memory you have. The memory doesn’t have to be complicated, just exceptionally happy.”

Harry demonstrated, focusing on the memory of hearing Sirius’ voice from the mirror, and Prongs burst forth from his wand.

“Lots of sources say it’s a very complicated charm, but it’s not. It’s just really, really hard. Go on, try it yourselves. Don’t worry if you can’t get it! It took me weeks, and I had a pressing need to know it, what with all those bloody dementors two years ago!”

Slowly, silvery wisps appeared in the air, and Harry praised whoever was able to make one.

Luna was the first to create a corporeal Patronus, and a hare slipped from her wand, and leapt about in the air.

“Great job, Luna!” Harry shouted, “Keep trying, everyone, I believe in you!”

A little under a half an hour later, a few more solid patronuses started darting about in the air above their heads.

“I did it!” Emily exclaimed, watching a small fox with huge ears bounce around her, and reached out to touch Cindy’s shoulder, “Cindy, look, I did it!”

“Holy shit, mate, you did! What memory did you use?” she demanded.

Emily quieted down, and muttered something quietly. Cindy burst out in laughter, and then concentrated.

A Labrador Retriever burst from her wand, and she shook Emily’s arm.

“It worked for me, too!”

Harry called out praise to them, “Great job, Davidson, Morris!”

Emily Davidson and Cindy Morris managing to cast a Patronus seemed to be what finally convinced the rest of the D.A. to accept them, and they did so with silent nods and wide grins.

 

At the end of the night, while Ginny had left down one tunnel to lead the Ravenclaws back to their tower, and Hermione and Ron left to bring the Gryffindors back to their Tower, Harry had elected to bring the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs down to the kitchens and dungeons.

After the very nervous Hufflepuffs had vanished down the hall, Cindy cleared her throat.

“So, Potter, what you said to Spinnet was all very inspiring, but what’s your real motive letting us in on this Association of yours?”

“Morris, don’t look a gift griffin in the mouth!” Blaise hissed.

“Fuck off, Zabini,” she snarled in return, “I want to know!”

Harry was willing to bet that Cindy was nearly a Gryffindor, and was very, very unwilling to say that thought aloud.

“You sounded like you really wanted to help,” Harry explained. “I didn’t see any reason not to let you.”

She scoffed. “That can’t be the whole reason. You’re leaving something out!”

Harry was torn between grimacing and smiling, and gave in:

“The hat wanted me to be in Slytherin,” he admitted.

“Really, now?” Blaise asked, eyebrows raised.

Harry nodded. “The only reason I wasn’t was because I insisted it put me anywhere but Slytherin. I’d already met Malfoy, you see, and figured anything he was in was something I didn’t want to be in. could you imagine me and him in the same dorm room for seven years? We’d have killed each other by now.”

Blaise let out a strangled laugh.

“You’re joking,” Cindy replied, her voice flatter than a board. “You, almost a Slytherin?”

Harry nodded.

“I’d say prove it,” she said, then admitted, “But I’m not sure how you could do that.”

He shrugged. “It’s true, though. Hermione figured it out on her own. Gave Ron a bit of a fright, when she told me she knew. He’s fine now.”

“Bet he’s biting his nails, worrying if us nasty evil snakes killed you and left you to rot,” Zeus Burke muttered resentfully.

“Nah, I bet he thinks I could take all of you at once,” Harry disagreed affably. “He’s probably wrong, but it keeps him from sticking to me like glue. We’re here. _Open.”_

The hidden door, tucked away in a far corner of the dungeon, and yet amazingly close to the Slytherin Common Room, slid open.

Blaise peeked his head out, to make sure the coast was clear, before waving the rest of the snakes out. He was the last to leave the safety of the tunnel.

“Potter, I want to thank you,” he said, “so, thanks for trusting us. It means a lot. I’ll see what I can do to distract Malfoy from messing with you.”

“You’re welcome, and thanks,” Harry replied in kind, “I’d really appreciate it if you could dye Malfoy’s hair pink for a week.”

Blaise laughed. “I’ll see what I can do, Potter.”

**Author's Note:**

> please harass me if you want more, otherwise ill forget about this in three weeks and never touch it again :c


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